Lonza and AdAlta Announce a Strain Development Contract for Novel Biologic Therapeutics

Under an XS™ Microbial Expression Research Evaluation Agreement, AdAlta
evaluated Lonza’s system in house with successful results for novel i-body
proteins

Lonza to conduct focused strain development study with XS™ Pichia Systems
and manufacture non-GMP material at its microbial facility in Visp

AdAlta to continue using Lonza’s XS™ Expression Technologies in their
laboratory to screen their broader i-body platform under the XS™ Research
Evaluation Agreement

Basel, Switzerland, and Melbourne,
Australia, 18 Dec 2014 – Lonza and AdAlta announced today that they have entered into a strain
development agreement for AdAlta’s alternative scaffold proteins, called
i-bodies. Lonza will conduct strain development studies with the XS™ Pichia systems
for several i-body molecules that AdAlta successfully expressed at research
levels in their Melbourne-based laboratory. Strain development and
manufacturing will be conducted by Lonza at its microbial facility in Visp (CH)
to establish a commercially viable manufacturing process.

The XS™
Research Evaluation Agreement (REA) provided AdAlta scientists with access to
Lonza’s proprietary microbial expression systems, protocols and technical
expertise. The licensable XS™ Technology Platform consists of multiple hosts
and promoter systems that have been optimized for soluble expression driving
simpler recovery and downstream processing, which saves development time and
costs. After evaluating several E. coli
and Pichia host systems, AdAlta found the best expression performance with one
of Lonza’s Pichia systems for several i-bodies that are under development for fibrosis
and other diseases.

Under
the strain development contract, Lonza will conduct broader process development
for these i-bodies including larger scale, fed-batch production with one or
more XS™ Pichia Systems to assess cell growth and productivity. Lonza will
produce non-GMP material for further evaluation at AdAlta.

We are
pleased that the diversity of the XS™ Expression Toolbox is a successful option
to express these alternative scaffold molecules, which demonstrates the
versatility of the technology,” said Anne Hays, Head of Lonza’s Custom
Development Services Organization. “This is the goal of our approach – to
enable customers to do early research in their own labs, then come to Lonza for
next-phase product needs.”

“We are pleased
to be working with a partner such as Lonza with extensive experience in protein
expression,” said AdAlta CEO Samantha Cobb. “The strain development with Lonza
will allow AdAlta to advance our novel i-body candidates to the clinic as
quickly as possible.”

AdAlta
will continue to screen their broader i-body platform with the XS™ systems
available under the XS™ REA.